New York Mets rally in eighth against Chicago, but fall short, 9-3; no decision for Oliver Perez

New York Mets pitcher Oliver Perez gives up two runs in five innings and gets no run support outside of a second-inning homer by Rod Barajas (below). (Keivom/News)

The Mets brought surprising electricity to Citi Field this week, after stumbling home from a six-game, two-win road trip on Sunday. It began Monday with the promotion of exciting prospect Ike Davis, and continued the next night with Mike Pelfrey's masterpiece, and Jose Reyes' long-awaited explosion.

But during a chilly and rain-delayed affair in Flushing Wednesday night, all was quiet again - save for the booing. In a 9-3 loss to Chicago that began 26 minutes late and snapped a two-game winning streak, Oliver Perez regressed after a promising outing last Friday.

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The middle of the Mets lineup, namely Jason Bay and David Wright, struggled against Cubs starter Carlos Silva - who injured his wrist swinging and missing in the second, and could not throw his breaking ball after that - and drew the ire of the crowd, before Wright singled in a run in the eighth.

Those two were far from the only culprits of the Mets' offensive slumber; Rod Barajas' solo home run in the second was the only Met hit until Bay singled with two out in the sixth. Wright, who heard scattered boos late in Tuesday's win, was once again jeered upon striking out in the sixth inning Wednesday night. Bay followed with a single, and drew what seemed to be sarcastic jeers from many in the thinning crowd.

Afterward, Jerry Manuel said he would need to reconsider his lineup. The Mets face a lefthanded starter Thursday in Tom Gorzelanny, but Manuel might disrupt the all-righty three, four and five spots the next time his team sees a righthander.

"The next time that we face a righthanded pitcher, I think I'm going to have to make some adjustments in the lineup, unless I see some difference (today) in the at-bats," Manuel said. "I don't like the opposing manager to have a righty for three shots. I like to have him have some mix in there."

The manager mentioned Davis as a potential lefty to break up the Wright, Bay and Jeff Francoeur bloc. He reiterated that switch-hitter Jose Reyes could bat third at some point, as could switch-hitter Angel Pagan.

Wright, uncharacteristically, bristled a tad when asked about those ideas. "I'm so tired of talking about the lineup," he said. "If it happens, it happens. It's no big deal."

The third baseman admitted what was obvious, that he and Bay have not been helpful at the plate in recent games. "It has been a rough start for both me and Jason," he said. "Jason throughout his career has been pretty streaky, so I'm excited to see him when he catches fire and gets going."

While the Met bats have been consistently quiet, the staring pitching has been good of late. Perez bucked that trend Wednesday night; even though he allowed only two earned runs in five innings, he did not have the same command as he did in his previous start.

Last Friday, Perez worked with Barajas on a slower, craftier approach. Accepting that his fastball was no longer able to overpower hitters, Perez instead confused the St. Louis lineup with slow breaking stuff, which made his high-80s fastball appear more powerful by comparison.

Against the Cubs, Perez needed 96 pitches, 64 of which were strikes, to last five. "That was really hard for me to get through five innings," Perez said.

Barajas said that Perez remained committed to the plan that made him Crafty Ollie last week; his pitches were simply not as good Wednesday night. "The approach was the same, it's just making those mistakes," Barajas said, adding that fastball and cutter command were problematic for Perez Wednesday night. "He didn't make those mistakes the other day, and tonight he made a couple more."

The Mets offense did nothing to redeem those mistakes, leaving Manuel to contemplate changes. "Those are some things that I'll be trying to sleep on the next couple night," the manager said. "If I get any sleep."